Chapter 42
Christmas Eve.
I knew that my sister was secretly fired up about this day.
With Misaki-senpai coming over tonight ahead of her birthday tomorrow, my sister was determined to make an especially lavish feast.
“Alright, Akira, I’m counting on you to run the errands! You can buy some snacks with the change, but don’t buy too much, okay? That’s a promise with your big sister!”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a little kid. Let’s see—fresh cream and five bars of chocolate. Is this urgent?”
“It is. I’d like you to get them within two hours if possible. But knowing you, Akira, you’ll probably wander off, buy snacks along the way, run out of money, and come back crying.”
“That’s ‘My First Errand’ or something! Fine, fine, I’ll grab them quickly. Then I’ll head out again right after.”
“Oh? A Christmas Eve date, perhaps? But Akira, if you’re not back by 5 p.m., Misaki will be sad, so you must come home! I absolutely will not allow any ‘six hours of sex,’ so be prepared!”
“Who do you think I’m going with…? I’ll be back before evening.”
“Huh? A Kasumi girl? Or that one from before… Nishizaki?”
“They’re taking the Explorer License Exam today, so they’re not around.”
“Oh, right. Anyway, fresh cream and chocolate—ASAP!”
Under a winter sky where my breath turned white and the heavens felt just a little higher than usual, I set off toward the nearby supermarket, seeing my sister off while being teased.
Me, going on a date with someone…? No, no—there’s no such person, you know?
The two names she mentioned are probably tackling their survival exam right about now.
As for me, my errand is pretty mundane—specifically, going to buy a Christmas present for my sister.
Since I’ve been given the chance to redo this timeline and spend Christmas together with her, it’d be a shame not to at least prepare a present.
With that in mind, I hurried toward the supermarket to finish the errand first.
“Five bars of chocolate and fresh cream… She gave me plenty of money, so I’ll splurge and get real dairy cream. And just in case, I’ll grab some cake candles too.”
She’d been all excited since this morning about baking the cake herself. Given that her head is apparently packed with every bit of knowledge on Earth, she probably knows plenty about baking too.
…Then why did she forget to buy things?
After finishing the errand, I went back home to drop off the ingredients.
Maybe because I jogged a little, I’d sucked in a lot of cold air, and my chest ached slightly.
When I got home, a delivery truck was just pulling away from in front of the house.
Huh? I don’t remember ordering anything. What was that delivery?
“I’m back! Onee-san, I’m leaving the grocery bags here!”
“Oh, that was quick! You didn’t get lost—good boy, good boy.”
“What TV show are you from? More importantly, a truck was here—did something arrive?”
“Hm? Oh, I ordered some ingredients. There are things you can’t buy at the supermarket, you know.”
I see. But surely she didn’t order something like a whole turkey… right?
Given how fired up she is, that’s actually possible…
“Well then, I’m heading out again. I’ll be back before 5 p.m., before Misaki-senpai arrives.”
“Alright, permission to go out granted. Be sure to come back before curfew, okay?”
“Why are you treating me like a kid all day today…?”
“Eh? Because Christmas is the day kids get presents, right? You’re already an adult, Akira, so you don’t qualify anymore. So I’m treating you like a kid a little to confuse Santa!”
“…I see.”
I really hope she doesn’t seriously believe Santa exists.
I mean, she’s supposed to know everything on Earth… so surely not… right?
I extended my trip a bit, took the train, and headed to Ginza.
Normally, Ginza gives me the impression of being “the place with dungeons and related facilities,” but today I came to shop at a high-end department store.
I put one month’s worth of living expenses my parents sent me into my wallet and headed toward my target store.
Honestly, I’d prefer to buy a present with money I earned myself, but in this life, I haven’t made any money from dungeon crawling yet.
That said, being able to freely use my living expenses is thanks to prize money I earned at various tournaments during summer break—so in a sense, it is money I earned.
“With fifty thousand yen… I should be able to buy something, at least.”
I wandered through jewelry and accessory shops inside the luxury department store, searching for something suitable.
Real gemstone accessories would burn through fifty thousand yen in no time, but I had no intention of buying anything like that.
I wanted something that would go well with a maid outfit…
“Oh, what about this place?”
I stepped into a rather unusual shop that also carried various costumes.
It seemed to be an accessory shop catering to people with distinctive fashion tastes—accessories designed to match specific outfits.
“Huh… chokers, gothic headbands, armor rings. They really have a lot of odd stuff.”
Maybe it’s a high-grade accessory shop for people into gothic lolita fashion. Looking around, I did notice quite a few women dressed that way.
Somehow… I felt completely out of place and a bit uncomfortable.
“Oh? This… might be good.”
What caught my eye was a brooch decorated with a frilled ribbon, giving off a calm and elegant impression.
A deep blue glass—or stone?—was set into it, adorned with a wide ribbon. It looked like it would go well with my sister’s maid outfit.
“Huh, it’s surprisingly cheap… Maybe it’s not a real gemstone.”
Still, it looked very well made.
The price was 5,800 yen, which, when you think about it, is fairly expensive for a brooch.
“Excuse me, I’ll take this.”
When I said so, the female clerk smiled warmly at me.
“A present for your girlfriend?”
“She’s not my girlfriend, but it’s a Christmas present for a woman.”
“Hehe, I see. I’ll wrap it specially for you.”
“Thank you.”
I felt like I was being looked at with slightly warm eyes.
Having successfully chosen my sister’s present, I decided to buy one more—something to hide my embarrassment.
Ah, of course, I also bought presents for Misaki-senpai and Kasumi.
Those were practical items.
I bought them a slightly nicer kit for weapon maintenance.
“Alright then… maybe I’ll also buy something she’d obviously like—like a gaming mini-fridge for energy drinks.”
See, if I give something like that too, it makes the embarrassment of giving an accessory fade a bit…
“I’ll have the fridge delivered to the house.”
The perk of home appliances—the store brings them to you!
“…So expensive… gaming fridges are expensive… Thirty-five thousand yen!?”
I’m sorry, I underestimated gaming culture!
Just because it has LEDs and a glass door, it costs this much!? And it looks like it’d be full just holding ten large cans!
“Well, whatever. She did buy a PC. She probably wants to go all-in on gaming gear.”
With everything taken care of, I hurried home before Misaki-senpai arrived.
I need to hide my sister’s Christmas present properly…
She might actually believe in Santa, after all…
I should place it by her bed while she’s asleep…
Imagining her reaction tomorrow morning, I headed home feeling just a little excited.